In the movie "Groundhog Day"...

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

Bill Murray relives the same day over and over and over.

So, given that he transcends from disbelief to hedonism, mayhem and repeated suicide attempts, tries to get Andie MacDowell in the sack god knows how many times, and then devotes himself to study and good works, how many times do you think he relived it?

I think it would take a year to go through all those transitions. To get that good on the piano, though...maybe a couple of years.

[kick-ass-bob]

1. More than a year.

No doubt.
He knew way too much about everyone in the town, including when a kid would fall out of a tree. And how many times did he try to save that homeless guy?

Had to be more than a years worth.

[underpants]

2. I would have kept nailing the red head

but then I feel that way about red heads

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

3. "Hey!"

;)

[aden_nak]

4. I'm sure he did every now and then. :P

Especially if she makes chipmunk faces.

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. I lost count, but I'd say over a year as well.

[CBGLuthier]

6. thousands of days

One thing not covered was if he practiced the piano during the other 23 hours of the day or if the one hour (guessing lesson length) a day was all he put in.

Either way, it would take a few years and a lot of dedication to get that good at piano.

If you want to read a good article about it go here, Ebert just wrote it up on his Great Movies column;

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050130/REVIEWS08/501300301

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

10. Thanks for that link - great review

It is one of my favorite movies - not in a top-10-of-all-time way, but in the way that, whenever I come across it, at whatever point it's at in the film, I still enjoy the story and the performances.

[theboss]

7. According to Harold Ramis, it is well over 10 years

He might have even said 100 years; I can't remember exactly.

He wrote it; he would know.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

8. Wow

I didn't know that. That makes more sense than a year, come to think of it.

[theboss]

12. The Ebert article describes the first draft as 10,0000 cycles

I'm not sure what a cycle is though. I personally think the story takes place between 10 and 40 years.

Let's look at it this way. He spends a while learning about his world - maybe half a year. He spends probably half a year trying to have the perfect date with Rita. (At some point during that "date," he learned some passable French). He then spends a good month or so trying to kill himself. Then he starts trying to "better himself."

Somehow he learns how to ice sculpt and play the piano. I figure that's - at the very least - another five years. You don't go from having no piano skills to being able to improvise with a jazz band overnight.

[seriousstan]

9. He learned to speak French, play the piano, ice sculpt and apparently

some chiropractic services. 10 years at least.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

11. I always assumed that it was for a very long time

judging by all the things he does and learns how to do.

Learning the piano that well by itself would take at least a couple of years.

Not to mention the fact that he learns the exact timing and movements of practically everyone in the city.

[theboss]

13. The ice sculpting is what got me

I have a friend who does that and it took him years to master.

[zbdent]

14. I listened to the audio commentary on the DVD - according to the

original concept, he spent roughly 10000 years there (no wonder he was tired). Apparently, also according to the concept, he was keeping track of how long he spent there by reading one page per "cycle" in the library.

I also loved the original concept of where they WANTED to start the movie - the point in which the "high-school friend" runs up and re-introduces himself - and Bill Murray slugs him. The voice-over would point out that "this will make sense shortly . . ."

[Beware the Beast Man]

15. I need to watch this again,

to catch all the nuances I missed. Is it playing on TV sometime this week?